Hot Custard the inaugural European Club Champions

Hot Custard brought the heat to Maidenhead with a dominant weekend in the inaugural European Federation of Touch Club Championships.

The London-based team were the only outfit to go through the entire weekend undefeated as the European clubs showed just how competitive the sport is throughout the continent.

In all there were 18 clubs representing 11 nations, and after an opening day which had a number of one-sided scorelines between the more and less experienced sides, day two saw draws aplenty and drop-offs in a number of matches.

Indeed, the chase for a place to join Hot Custard in the final went all the way to the final round of group matches, with Edinburgh’s Six Pack Roosters pipping BBR on touchdown difference after both had finished on 12 league points.

And with Six Pack, BBR, Cambridge, Dublin’s Donnybrook and CSSC London Eagles covered by just four league points any of them could have been in the place occupied by the Scottish outfit.

The final went to Hot Custard, who steadily took control to win 5-2.

However the placing matches were as tight as the league table, with BBR beating Cambridge in extra time and Donnybrook overcoming the Eagles by just one touchdown.

The top half of the Plate competition was even more competitive, with Touch Berlin, Thames Valley Vikings and Hurricanes all finishing on 17 points, separated only by touchdown difference.

The final between Berlin and the home-town Vikings also went down to the wire, the German outfit winning 6-5 in a drop-off.

The Bowl went to Jersey’s Leopards, who followed up their first place finish in the table by beating Amsterdam 7-6 in the final.

Thanks to all the teams for making the trip, to EFT for organising and for our hosts at Maidenhead for their hospitality throughout the weekend and proactive involvement in the planning.

You can re-live all the Field 1 action on the BBC iPlayer for the next four weeks!